HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-05-17® Dryden Youth Commission
May 17, 2005
Minutes
Present: Eric McConnell, Tracy Kurtz, Kristen Blackman, Kris Bennett, Nita Baldwin
Visitor: Deb Holtz, Dryden teacher and potential rep. for vacant V. Dryden seat
Excused: InShik Lee, Alan Macomber
Tracy called the meeting to order at 6:35 PM. Since there was no quorum, minutes from April could not be
approved.
Membership Updates Kris told the DYC members that Patty Mooney informed her that she is resigning her
seat on the DYC for personal reasons. Kris told her she'll need to send a written resignation to the Town.
Kris has names of 2 people who contacted her re, the open V. Dryden seat but were not eligible since they
live in the Town. Once we have verification of Patty's resignation Kris will contact these people to see if
one is interested. Tracy introduced guest Deb Holtz. She is a teacher in Dryden interested in the V.
Dryden seat. Kris will send her the necessary application form. Deb already knows Reba Taylor which
should help facilitate her appointment.
Recreation Updates At the last Rec. Commission meeting, Tracy went to Cortland State for a report on the
recreation survey results. They also made a presentation to the Town board; results are also to be posted
on the Town's website. They phoned every 12th registered voter for their survey. Transportation,
surprisingly, was not identified as a problem but people were not familiar with the Town's parks. The Town
® will be posting signs to direct people to existing parks and facilities. Summer Concert in the Park series
begins June 22 and will run through Aug. 10. Neighboring towns are coordinating their summer concert
schedules this year to avoid conflicts and to partner bringing concert artists in to reduce costs. Summer 3
on 3 basketball for students in K -12 (and adults if interested). The Walmart fishing derby will take place
June 25 at Dryden Lake. The Wall St. project should be complete by the weekend. They have applied for
a grant for renovations to Montgomery Park facilities.
Freeville Summer Rec. Program Update — Because the school playground will be unavailable this summer,
the camp has no place for outdoor play, (The church they had planned to use for the indoor camp does not
have outdoor space.) So the camp will not be operating. Kris has had conversations with InShik about
this, they are exploring an idea about using some of the funding the camp has available (from the United
Way and the DYC youth employment allocation) to offer some summer programming. InShik contacted
CCE's halftime Dryden program manager Tom Archibald who is willing to provide some morning
programming, Kris, InShik and Linda Schoffel will meet later this week to discuss this further and to explore
other ideas. We discussed possibly reassigning funds originally allocated to the program for summer youth
employment to other youth employment, possibly assistants at CCE or to work on the inventory of Dryden
youth programs. However, we decided supervision would be important for the latter job and might be better
done by an older person. Tracy will contact Cortland State to ask whether this might be a class project for
fall. All were concerned that the Village has not notified families that this program will not be operating this
summer and this may leave parents scrambling for summer care for their kids. Once Kris has confirmed
with CCE and the Village what will and won't be happening, she will get a press release out and will ask the
schools to distribute information. Since Kristen is liaison to the program and was planning to monitor it, she
® is available to take on another one instead.
Program Updates Police & Community — Alan called Kris with an update which she shared. So far this
year, the Police have been to Dryden elementary school twice and not at all to Freeville. Presentations that
were scheduled and then cancelled have never been rescheduled. Alan thinks the DYC needs to send a
letter to Chief Ryan, cc'd to Mayor Taylor, expressing our concern about this and asking how we will know
that they are doing what they are supposed to do. Tracy will be in touch with Alan, they will send the letter
jointly. Tracy mentioned that Dryden has a school resource officer (state trooper) and wondered whether
he could make visits to the elementary classrooms; she will investigate this. Youth Conservation Corps —
The assistant, Jessie, will not be returning so Megan -Mack is looking for a new helper. Tom is recruiting
actively for youth participants, They will be working on the bridge project at 4H Acres and cleaning up park
on Thursdays after Wed. evening concerts. Cooperative Extension — Kris distributed Dave's and Tom's
reports and also Bridget's final report. CCE are scheduled to attend next month's DYC meeting. Finding
Our Strength, Finding Our Voices — Tracy visited again; she asked the 5 girls to fill out an evaluation survey
about the program (one was also sent to parents but no responses have come back). The girls were all
happy, talkative and self assured. One comment from Deb Holtz — the program did a lot to get referrals
from school staff for girls to participate but the day the program met (Thurs.) conflicted with another popular
after school offering, so some girls could not participate in FOS /FOV. If it's offered again, it should run on a
different day. Kris reminded all that this program has expended its funds for 2005 (no funds to run in the
fall) and asked whether the DYC is interested in asking Tom to organize a Girls Group similar to what
Bridget ran. Members will think about this and discuss next month with CCE staff.
Annual Report Kris distributed copies of the approved report. Kristen will present copies to an upcoming
meeting of the V. Freeville trustees; Tracy will share with the Town Board members (and remind them that
the copy they received in March was a draft and not complete) and the Rec. Dept. on June 7. She has
® already presented it to the Dryden school superintendent. Kris will contact Alan about presenting it to the
Village of Dryden trustees.
Goals Due to the lack of a quorum, work on goals was tabled until the next meeting.
Youth forum update Tracy met with Dr. Crawford, Dryden Spt.. He gave her an update on the McLean
program's success. It ran from Dec. — Apr. Plans for a joint, big -scale youth forum were put on the back
burner for the time being.
Other Nita reported that a site has been identified for the new Town hall but they need to close on the land.
They decided the building for recreation would be separate,
The next meeting will take place on June 21, 6:30 PM at Town of Dryden Hall.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 PM,
DYC Minutes Page 2 May 17, 2005